


Black and White

by mmmdraco



Category: Hikaru no Go, Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Feelings, M/M, Post-Season/Series 03B, The Game of Go
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-01
Updated: 2014-04-01
Packaged: 2018-01-17 18:59:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1398934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mmmdraco/pseuds/mmmdraco
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles has a flyer for an event in Sacramento involving go. On a whim, he invites Derek.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Black and White

**Author's Note:**

> If you ever look at my profile, you'll see that I have written a horrendously large number of works for Hikaru no Go, a manga/anime about a kid who looks at a go board in his grandparent's attic and is kind of possessed by a ghost who was haunting the board. Because of that series, I'm kind of a little obsessed with go myself (though I'm not a good player in the slightest) and the inclusion of it in Teen Wolf therefore held a special kind of thrall for me. This is far more a Teen Wolf fic than a Hikago one, but Hikago is totally a fandom of my heart.

Stiles let his fingers run across the flyer, his mind flicking to recent memories that weren't so great and others that were horrible. One of the lone standout things was the not quite brief brush with go. It seemed like a very interesting game, and as much as he knew he could probably just ask Noshiko to teach him a little more about it, that whole deal with her kind of birthing the demon that took him over and insisting up until the bitter end that his death was needed to end things kind of turned him off from the woman. And maybe kind of the rest of her family, too. He was glad for Scott and Kira having whatever was going on with them, but he was also glad to not get invited over there for dinner because, well, awkward. Stiles was awkward enough in situations that didn't make him uncomfortable. 

Still, the flyer... It was for some international go event happening in Sacramento. There was promise of teaching games with professionals, even though the idea of being a pro at a board game was kind of hilarious. Still, he seemed to recall something about chess being something someone could make a living at, so that was understandable. He was about to give Scott a call about it, hoping that having company would make him less likely to fall asleep on the road. He was healing from his "ordeal" as Deaton had called it, but he also seemed to have this kind of temporary narcolepsy as his body tried to make up for all of the sleep that he'd missed. As he pulled up Scott's number on his phone, he paused. They'd been hanging out a lot lately, really, and things had been great, but wow was it getting annoying to have Scott kind of playing den mother all the time and making sure he was eating and sleeping and even calling him one night and asking him if he needed another blanket because it was cold that night. Granted, Stiles had no doubt that if he'd said yes, then Scott would have run over to grab one from the closet to drape over him before tucking him in.

He needed friends right now, though. Needed to not feel alone. They'd lost a few people, but a few others had kind of unofficially joined the pack with Ethan's confession that Danny knew about the werewolves at least, and with Malia coming back to town... There were people he could call to try to tag along. There was every chance that Lydia would be interested because there was going to be some guy talking about an algorithmic approach to the game. He backed out of the screen with Scott's number and scrolled down a little. Derek. He'd try him first. Things had been weird between them lately, okay... so more like always. But of all of the people he could choose to ask along with him, Derek was the least likely to say no because he had something else going on. Besides, he kind of missed the dude.

When the fourth ring happened, Stiles let out a sigh. Of course Derek wasn't answering. But as he thought that, he heard a click and then a muffled, "'lo?"

"Were you asleep?" Stiles pulled the phone from his ear to glance at the time. "It's almost eleven!"

"Yes, and I was up late last night because I couldn't sleep."

Stiles knew that feeling all too well. "Okay, but you're well-rested and all now, right?"

"I'll be okay."

"I wasn't asking if you were going to be okay. I mean, that's good to know and all, but it wasn't my primary concern. There's a thing I want to do in Sacramento and I wondered if you wanted to come with me. And maybe drive so there's no crashing involved."

Derek groaned. "And how many people turned you down before you called me?"

His brows furrowed, Stiles moved toward his closet as he talked, leafing through his shirts. He'd expected Derek to ask why he wanted to go to Sacramento, not that. "Uh, none? You were the first person I asked"

"Oh." Derek's tone was so surprised that Stiles wished he were there to witness the facial expression to go along with it. "When?"

Plucking a yellow and green plaid shirt off a hanger and tossing it on the bed, Stiles chewed his lower lip for a moment. "Well, I think it actually started at nine this morning, but it goes until five." He paused. "I figured we could pick up lunch on the way."

"I'll be there in half an hour."

Stiles was about to reply when he heard another click. Okay, well, he didn't do the talking on the phone thing much with Derek. Apparantly, the man didn't do goodbyes. Which, well, he could kind of see that. Goodbyes had a finality them that kind of sucked. Still, he had half an hour to finish getting dressed. It gave him pause as he picked up a pair of socks. Was Derek seriously just going to roll out of bed, toss on clothes, and come on over to pick him up to do a thing in Sacramento that he hadn't even bothered to ask about? The idea of it kind of warmed Stiles' heart.

He double and triple checked that he had everything he needed for the day and headed down to wait in the living room which only lasted a few minutes before he wandered to the kitchen to grab something to drink, guzzling down a glass of orange juice fast enough that his throat hurt from the cold. He was still wincing from it when Derek arrived a few minutes later, honking the Camaro's horn. Stiles locked the door and headed outside, sliding into the passenger seat with a grin. "You know, it's a good thing I'm not a girl and my dad's not home. He's big on people actually getting out of their cars, knocking on doors... all of that. But, especially for dates."

"This isn't a date," Derek said, but Stiles could hear hesitation in his voice.

"Isn't it? It's two people with a relationship doing a thing together. So, it's at least kind of a platonic date." Stiles grinned and dug the flyer for the competition out of his pocket, handing it over. "And, that's where we're going."

Derek took a long moment to look it over, then handed it back. "Okay." He backed out of the driveway and they were on their way.

"Where do you want to stop for food? My treat unless you'd rather I pay for gas." Stiles couldn't help but be excited. Derek wasn't complaining, they were actually getting to hang out together, and there would be food in his future. Hopefully near future. It wasn't that far to Sacramento, but long enough Stiles wasn't sure he wanted to wait that long.

"You get food and I'll get gas." Derek took a quick glance over at Stiles. "I figured we'd stop at that burger place right near the highway. I don't know about you, but I'm hungry."

Stiles snorted. "Because you slept too late for breakfast." He wanted to ask what could keep Derek up, but there were too many answers to the question that Stiles knew he didn't want to hear. "Burgers work, though." He tried not to look too happy about the fact that Derek had chosen one of his favorite places for a quick bite.

"I burned some popcorn last night," Derek said with a hint of a growl to his voice. "The smell..."

It made Stiles laugh. "Well, if you maybe lived some place that wasn't basically one giant room!"

"I like my loft." Derek straightened his shoulders as he drove.

Stiles just let the words stand, leaning back in his own seat as they drove through town. It was only as they got to the burger place that Stiles realized he hadn't let his father know he'd be out of town. Digging into his wallet, he pulled out a $20 bill and shoved it at Derek. "Here, go ahead and get your food. I'll be in in a second."

Derek raised his eyebrows, but took the money and headed inside while Stiles called his father's cell phone, happy when he got his voice mail. "Hey, Dad! Just letting you know that I'm headed to Sacramento for the day with Derek. Don't worry, he's driving. Not sure when I'll be home, so I'll give you an update later. There's leftover spaghetti in the fridge if I'm not back in time for dinner. Bye." He tucked his phone away and headed into the restaurant just in time to see Derek taking a tray from the counter. "Geez, dude, hungry?"

"I got yours, too." He set the tray down on a table and shoved Stiles' change across the table at him.

"You did?" Stiles followed Derek, shoveling his money into his pocket as he noted that Derek had gotten him exactly what he would have gotten for himself. "Okay, how in the world do you know my burger order?" It didn't keep him from eating a curly fry before he'd even managed to sit down.

Derek raised an eyebrow at him and Stiles wondered whether he knew any other facial mannerisms. "Because whenever you smell like you've had a burger? It's always the same kind." Damn werewolf noses.

"Are you saying that you make it a habit of sniffing me?"

"I make a habit of trying to know what's going on around me." Derek unwrapped his own burger and began to eat.

Stiles started in on his food, too, hardly pausing until he had eaten everything (and maybe stolen a few of Derek's fries, too). "Want a refill for the road?" Derek pushed over his own drink and then moved to take their trash. "What do you have?"

"Same thing you do," Derek said, carefully piling everything onto the tray before moving toward the trash can.

After getting their refills, Stiles headed toward the door where Derek met him. "Here you go, man. Now, let's get back on the road!"

Derek took the drink with another raised eyebrow, but led the way. Things were silent for a while except for the sound of the radio that Stiles flipped on, not surprised to hear the classic rock station tuned in. It wasn't blasting, but it was still a little loud for Stiles. He kept the station, but lowered the volume, leaning back once more. There was something about the drive and Derek's presence and Bon Jovi's voice that made Stiles lean his seat back, eyes on the horizon as they drove along.

He must have fallen asleep because there was suddenly waking up. Stiles struggled to sit up, wiping a strand of drool off of his face with the back of his hand. "Oh, hey. I guess this is it?"

"Yes. Now get out so I can lock the doors." Derek had steel in his voice, but still wore enough of a smile for Stiles to not actually care about the time he took. He closed the door behind him and heard the click of the automatic locks.

"Have you ever played?" Stiles gestured toward the sign they passed which advertised the event.

Shaking his head, Derek kicked a stone off of their path. "No. If someone had asked me a few months ago which board game involves round black and white pieces, I might have said Othello. Or... backgammon? I think that's two colors, but I don't know which ones they are."

"Then, why would you...?" Stiles shrugged. "I guess I don't get why you agreed to come with me when you didn't even know what I wanted to do and then didn't complain when it's some stupid thing about a game you've never played."

Smirking, Derek caught Stiles' gaze and kept it. "Because you sounded excited. After everything that's happened, I'm happy to have that Stiles back." Stiles couldn't help but return the look.

Once they were inside the building, Stiles grabbed a pamphlet from a woman passing them out, and looked over everything. "Okay, look. There's a few things here I think would be kind of cool. Some kind of teaching thing about Internet go, a discussion about go strategy and how it related to Japan's feudal wars, and then there's a thing where you get to have teaching games with some of the pros they brought over."

"I have no opinion on it, Stiles. Pick something and I'll follow you."

Groaning, Stiles looked over the pamphlet again. "Okay, we're going to do the teaching game first. I want to at least touch a real go set while I'm here." 

To Stiles' surprise, there was a very short line of people for the teaching games. Then again, most of the die-hards probably would have been there for the morning sessions. The afternoon seemed to be focused on more of the casual stuff. They'd only been waiting for a short while before two spots opened beside one another. Stiles headed toward them, grabbing on to Derek's shirt sleeve to pull him along. He sat down across from a guy who only looked a few years older than he was with long black hair. "Good afternoon," the man said with a bow of his head. "I am Akira Touya, 9-dan, and I will be teaching you today. Have you ever played the game of go before?"

Stiles shook his head at first, distracted by the man's accented English, but quickly followed it up with words. "Uh, yeah? I haven't touched the stones, though, so..."

To his right, Derek was awkwardly sitting down across from a man wearing a bright yellow shirt that matched the front part of his hair. The words were even more accented and Stiles could tell that the man's English wasn't the greatest, though he introduced himself as Shindou Hikaru and the name made Stiles grin for some reason. He pictured Derek tripping up on the name. 

"We'll play a handicapped game," Akira said, placing black stones at even intervals across the board. "You will play black. I will play certain moves to test you and others to attempt to guide you. If you have questions, ask them. Now, you may begin." 

Stiles licked his lips, nodding as he took the bowl full of black stones. He dug his fingers into them, fishing one out, and let it roll between his fingertips before settling it at a spot diagonal to one of the stones already in the corner nearest him. As he listened to the sound of Akira picking up a stone of his own and docking it at a point that mirrored his own, Stiles found himself glancing back and forth between Akira and Derek. They had similar coloring and demeanor and it was fun to imagine Derek with long hair for a moment. Picking up another stone, Stiles chose a spot a few away from his last stone, extending his reach. When Akira's next stone came, Stiles noticed the way he held the stone with it almost under his middle finger, held in place by his index and ring fingers. The noise it made as he pressed it down into place with his middle finger before sliding it into place... Stiles wanted to make that noise. "How old are you?" Stiles looked up as he situated the stone in his fingers before attempting to place it like Akira had, only botching it slightly.

"27," Akira said, a hint of a smirk in the corner of his mouth as he placed his next stone. "Now you know my name and age and I do not know yours."

"Stiles," he said quickly. "And, uh, 17. You don't look 27. But, you're probably pretty new to this and that's why they give you crap jobs like this."

Waiting for Stiles to play, Akira twirled a stone between his fingers. "I am not certain what that word means, but I think you mean this job is bad somehow? It is not bad at all. I have been doing this for over half of my life. I love it."

Slapping down another stone without bothering to worry about his hand position this time, Stiles shook his head. "No, um, I meant having to teach people how to play at places like this. That has to be bad. So, you started playing as a teenager? I bet that was fun."

Akira frowned, taking a moment to consider his next move. "No. I began to play as a very small child. I became a professional go player when I was 13. My father was a title holder." He slapped a stone into place.

Stiles sat back with a start. "You've been playing go as a job for 14 years? That's... wow. And here I thought my friend Lydia was a genius." Almost as an afterthought, he played another stone.

"In my country, you can be in a program which trains you to play go as a professional. They are insei. You may be insei until you are 18. Most go professionals will come from insei. There is a tournament for insei and one for other amateurs who are trying and those winners compete in the professional tournament. Only a few pass each year." Akira pressed a white stone carefully into place. "Your playing... it reminds me of my own."

The black stones cool against his fingers, Stiles grinned, looking off to the side briefly as Hikaru gestured wildly about something and Derek grunted in response. "Y'know, here, if you tell your parents when you're young that you want to play video games for a living or be an astronaut or something, they don't exactly encourage it." He examined the board for a long moment, eyes taking in the patterns forming and analyzing them before putting his next stone on the board.

"That was not an issue for me. My father held several titles when I was young. He is the one who taught me to play go. Hikaru-san to my right, though, his parents, I think, thought him crazy when he began to play." Akira glanced over at Hikaru and Stiles took a moment to glance at how Derek's game was shaping up. He was surprised to note that it didn't look much different from his own. His eyes traced across the grid of the board and up Derek's chest to look at his face. He didn't look unhappy. Stiles grinned and looked back at his own game, groaning to realize that his last move had been exploited by Akira's next stone.

"You are not a strategy guy," Hikaru said loudly to Derek, the _pachi _of his stone hitting the board loud enough to draw Akira's attention. "If you going to attack hard, you go so deep they can not take you out without injuring selves."__

__Stiles snorted and caught Derek's eye, smiling broadly as he turned back to Akira and deftly extended a bit further than he had been. "I bet my friend is loving playing him. He's loud. I'm kind of like that, too."_ _

__There was a fight for dominance beginning to happen along the side of the board, even though Stiles couldn't quite quantify it in his mind. Akira's next move blocked off a section where there was a spot where neither of them could actually play. "Go is a game for two people, Stiles-san. It is as simple or complex as the players choose to make it." Akira glanced over at Hikaru and he smiled. "Sometimes, you cannot tell who a person really is until you have seen how they play such games."_ _

__"Or how they battle in general," Stiles muttered, attaching a stone to try to strengthen his position closer to the center. His mind started to drift to dangerous territory again, to remembering things, so he looked around instead. There was an older man in a white suit of all things toward the other end of the set-up of tables, his every move reminding Stiles strongly of Peter Hale, meaning just looking at him kind of creeped Stiles out. "Hey, I don't actually know much about go except a little bit about how to play. How good are you all?"_ _

__Akira placed a careful stone, thinking about his answer for a moment. "Most of us here are considered part of the New Wave of go. Ogata-sensei, there in the white suit, has been a title holder since around the time I became a professional. But, it is fun to travel and to meet people who love go. Even in my country, there are many people who do not understand that it is something you may be paid to play." He checked the time. "I am sorry, but our session is nearly up. Did you have any other questions?"_ _

__"Just, um, what's the best way to get better at go?" Stiles scratched at his neck, shrugging._ _

__Akira pointed to Derek. "Play him. Or anyone. Even a game against a bad player may reveal something within yourself." He bowed his head once more which Stiles returned in kind before standing._ _

__"Thanks," Stiles said as he gave a little wave with one hand, happy that Derek stood to join him a short moment later._ _

__When they were halfway across the room, Stiles turned back, watching as two other people took their places. "Hey, Derek... how'd you like that?"_ _

__"It was... interesting. That guy, Hikaru, reminded me a lot of you." Derek screwed up pronouncing the man's name, but forged ahead with it anyway, making Stiles smile._ _

__With a deep breath, Stiles started walking toward an area that seemed to be set up as a shop. "Was it the shirt?"_ _

__Derek kept pace with him. "The shirt was just the start of it. He was kind of all over the place. I'm not sure how much of that was just because I had no idea what I was doing, but... it was fun. Are you going to get a board?"_ _

__Looking at a small tabletop set, all wrapped in plastic, Stiles nodded. "I think so. It's... I don't know, exactly. I think part of it's just trying to get back control over my life and this feels like a step in the right direction."_ _

__"Are you going to teach Scott to play?" Derek picked through a selection of paper fans, pulling one out and examining it._ _

__Stiles shook his head. "Probably not. He's got Kira and her family for that. I was kind of hoping that maybe... maybe you'd like to keep up with it?"_ _

__The fan unfolding in front of his chest, Derek's eyebrow raise looked even more comical than normal. "Why me?"_ _

__"Well, you just said it was fun..." Stiles shrugged. "Forget it, man. I'll see if I can turn my dad away from chess sometimes or something."_ _

__"I didn't say no." Derek folded the fan once more. "I just... I didn't think you were that keen to spend one-on-one time with me."_ _

__Stiles snorted and picked up an inexpensive go board that came with hard plastic stones and bowls for them. "I'm not against it. If I'd thought you'd be up for it? I might have called you a little sooner. But, I've kind of had some problems lately that didn't make me a very good person, so not a great time to forge forward into any kind of relationship territory. 'Cause I mean... The whole not a virgin thing? It would've been so much cooler if I felt like I'd been the one making decisions about it." He grimaced slightly, but shook it off and grabbed the fan from Derek's hand, bringing it up to the woman at the register and paying for it along with his go board. "Here," he said as he handed the fan back to Derek. "Your souvenir for today."_ _

__"You just need to have some kind of sex that's on your own terms, Stiles," Derek said as he tucked the fan in his jacket pocket with a smile. "Even if it's horrible, you have something to remember that wasn't the bad stuff. At least..." Here he paused to swallow. "That's what worked for me."_ _

__"Are you offering? Because the me in front of you doesn't get booty. He gets pity. And it's really amazing just how bad pity is at leaving everyone satisfied." Stiles snorted. "Let's go hit that talk about internet go. Maybe I can play online, too, and not have to bother you."_ _

__Derek put a hand on Stile's shoulder. "You're not a bother, Stiles. You haven't been for a long time. And, no, I'm not offering to give you pity sex. Anyone who pities you doesn't actually know you."_ _

__Stiles turned toward him, his own brows furrowed in confusion. "Wait, do you... like me? Like, friends or maybe even like a friends with benefits thing? Or is this just misguided pack stuff or-"_ _

__Fingers were suddenly against Stiles' mouth and Derek leaned toward him. "Stiles, the talking. That's why you're not getting laid." Derek walked away, his fingers tracing along Stiles' lip as he did so._ _

__"Okay, but..." Stiles trailed off, shaking his head as he jogged a few steps to catch up._ _

__When they finally finished looking through everything a few hours later, Stiles was all too happy to get back to Derek's car, lunging for his forgotten drink as soon as he could and drinking enough down that he no longer felt parched. "So, you never answered earlier."_ _

__Climbing into the driver's seat, Derek buckled up and started the engine, nodding. "I'm aware of that."_ _

__"Well, what is the answer?" Stiles put on his seat belt as an afterthought, the smile happening in his head not quite making it to his face._ _

__Derek fiddled with the radio as he waited for someone to pull out of their parking spot before he could pull out of his. "I don't know, Stiles. I didn't have a name for what we were before and I really don't know what it is now."_ _

__"But you admit it's different now than it was before." Stiles groaned. "Why aren't relationships just... easy? Okay, let's pretend they are. Let's pretend that no matter what we say in this car ride, we're not going to let ourselves think anything bad about it. Okay?"_ _

__His knuckles white against the steering wheel, Derek nodded. "Okay. You first."_ _

__Stiles' mouth hung open for a moment, but he finally closed it and looked forward, looking at the building crowded around them. "Derek, I would actually be pretty damn honored to know you'd even consider me for a one night stand or something. Friends is good, too, because I feel like you're the kind of guy who's good to watch movies with because you wouldn't talk except to make some kind of fabulous snarky comment. And the way you knew my order today and that you jumped out of bed to come with me and had fun even though it wasn't anything you were interested in? That's kind of amazing. And then that whole bit about how you _get_ it when I have a freak out because I don't want to do anything to put my dad in danger because I already lost someone. And basically? I don't know what the fuck we are either, but I like it. I like you. Us. Whatever we are together, I like that combined unit." He took another sip of his watered down soda. "And now, you."_ _

__"You're distracting and clumsy and obnoxious. I don't get your jokes half of the time and your pop culture references are annoying because they're always from things too old for me to really get or from something so current that I only realize the reference two months later. You get yourself into everything... and I love it. You're always right there with me and it's kind of like having family again which hurts sometimes, but it's a good pain like... like healing." He inhaled sharply. "So, what do we do with that information?"_ _

__"We play go." Stiles let himself relax. "We watch movies and have burgers and hang out with a group of friends sometimes and sometimes just the two of us. And we talk. Because, seriously, the not talking is the worst. I know you don't say much, but when you do? It tends to be important. I want to hear more important Derek Hale things."_ _

__Derek smiled and kept on driving. "I think I'm going to get a popcorn machine. Then maybe I won't burn it and I can feed a crowd."_ _

__"Oh? Are we going to start doing viewing parties of old werewolf B-movies at your place? Because they should totally be a thing." Stiles breathed out a hiss of laughter. "I have plenty to donate to the cause."_ _

__When they stopped at a red light a moment later, Derek looked him over. "Do you have a _thing_ for werewolves?"_ _

__Stiles shrugged. "I liked the moon as a kid. Werewolves were in my path of interest. Finding out something like that's real? Yeah, I was maybe a little overenthusiastic there in the beginning. And maybe I never stopped. You're the only one who's given me a boner, though."_ _

__"Good to know we're still doing the open and honest thing," Derek added, turning off onto the highway to head back to Beacon Hills. "You look better now, you know. Healthier. You were... scary looking for a while."_ _

__Looking down at his lap, Stiles shrugged. "Lydia told me she was scared of how I looked as the Nogitsune, too."_ _

__Derek shook his head. "No. Not like that. After. When you looked like any moment could be your last."_ _

__"How much would you miss me?" Stiles moistened his lips with his tongue, fingers now restless enough that they were tearing at the plastic encasing his new go board._ _

__"In the spirit of openness and honesty? I'm not sure there's a word for how much I would." Derek nudged the radio volume up a little._ _

__Stiles relaxed as he listened to the music once more, Van Halen this time. "English sucks, man. We don't even have a word for the area behind your knee. How lame is that?" And, somehow, it was easy to pretend that Derek agreed just because he didn't bother replying._ _

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Lines Being Drawn](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1502516) by [mmmdraco](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mmmdraco/pseuds/mmmdraco)




End file.
